Two Malaysian seaweed farmers seized on Borneo in February by gunmen linked to Islamist militants have been freed unharmed across the sea in the southern Philippines, Filipino officials said on Wednesday.
Local military authorities in Zamboanga, whose forces operate in the Tawi-Tawi group, confirmed the recovery of two Malaysian men.
"I am pleased to announce the successful rescue of two Malaysian kidnap victims in Tawi-Tawi yesterday," Bacalzo said in a statement.
Police picked up the two on the Bongao coast after days of surveillance during which they monitored the movement of the kidnappers, said Bacalzo, who described the suspects as Malaysians with links to local Islamist militants.
"At the opportune time when troops launched the rescue, the kidnappers fled leaving behind their captives," he added.
"The victims had been held captive since February 2010 by Malaysian bandits with ties to the local Abu Sayyaf terrorist group," Bacalzo said.
The southern Philippines-based Abu Sayyaf was allegedly set up in the early 1990s with seed funds put up by Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law, who once operated an Arab charity in the Philippines.
Bacalzo said Filipino authorities had advised Malaysia about the rescue of the victims, who told police they were moved to several locations in Malaysia and the southern Philippines during their more than 10 months in captivity.
Malaysian police had reported on February 8 that the manager of a seaweed farm near the fishing town of Semporna in Sabah state had been abducted, along with a farm supervisor, by unknown gunmen men in a narrow-hulled boat.
The Malaysian authorities, who did not name the victims, had suggested that the incident was a payroll robbery attempt but the men were taken when the victims could not produce any money.
The Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for most of the Philippines' deadliest insurgent attacks and a 2000 cross-border raid on Malaysia's Sipadan island when 21 mostly Western holidaymakers were seized and taken to the Philippines.
The following year the hostages were ransomed off for millions of dollars to Libya, which sent representatives to the Philippines to negotiate their release.
Police found Chen Yui Chung, 48 and Lai Wong Chun, 46, in Bongao, the capital of the Tawi-Tawi island group near East Malaysia late Tuesday, national police chief Raul Bacalzo told reporters in Manila.
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